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Chapter 36
They were in hyperspace.
After choosing their next step, life had been a whirlwind of Force-Healing Acacia, packing necessities, and securing a private ship unaffiliated with the Nabooian Senate. Dorme was to stay at the house to cover for them in case anyone came around, but she wasn't even allowed to let Padme's family know about the departure for at least five days, ensuring the Skywalkers had enough time to make it to Tatooine, regroup, and be nearly gone again before anyone could come after them.
With all the backtracking and double-checking and swift short glances behind them, the last twenty-four hours had been stressful and strained, made exponentially worse by the bitter feeling in Anakin's mind everytime he remembered he was running away, abandoning his post like a coward. But he had to do what he had to do to keep his family safe. Right now that meant running—to Tatooine of all places.
But the hardest part was finally over, and no even was even aware they'd left Naboo. In a matter of hours, they'd be back on Anakin's homeplanet; shortly after that, they'd return to Acacia's childhood home.
For now, though, they were zooming through hyperspace, so to give his brain something to work with, Anakin sat alone in the front of the ship, examining the damage Sabe had dealt to R2. A jagged crack scarred down the back of the astromech's casing, but more importantly, R2 wouldn't even turn on. Somehow, Sabe had snapped a major circuit plate and scrambled the droid's interface, whether with the Force, brute force, or both, Anakin couldn't know for sure. He had no idea if this was something he could actually fix—he might have to buy a new plate and remake R2 completely—but it was the only thing he could work on for now, and he intended to give it everything he had.
And maybe he'd actually manage to perform this task properly.
Like it had since he was young, the tinkering soothed him. As his hands repaired, his mind sifted through the recent events stored in the back of his head; he lost himself in the work as his brain sorted through the problems, searched for a solution... just like his hands sorted through R2's broken pieces and found new ways to put them back together.
A twinge in the Force.
Anakin's focus snapped, but he didn't even have time to tense before his ForceMark recognized the presence: Acacia.
He turned to see his sister enter from the back, rubbing her eyes blearily as if she'd just woken up. She gave him a small smile when she noticed he was watching and came over to sit beside him.
"Hey," he said aloud, since no one else was around and, at the moment, he rather preferred his private thoughts to remain private. "You sure you're okay to be up?"
She nodded. "I'll be fine. I was a little tired from the Force-Healing, and now, I'm kinda still waking up."
He winked. "Laziness has its consequences."
"You'd know," she replied with an eye roll, and before he could let out his own sarcastic reply, she went on, "You think you can fix him?"
The sarcasm vanished, taking his second of contentment with it. "I don't know for sure."
Acacia nodded, then shifted closer, wordlessly helping him for several minutes, holding tools or moving plates; the siblings worked in silent tandem and comfortable companionship, ignoring all that was around them, pretending they didn't feel the tension that lurked from their hearts to every cranny of the ship, tightening the air around them till breathing was like having an asthma attack.
Calm down.
We can make it.
Eventually, Acacia spoke up, "Can I ask you something?"
He paused to glance over at her. "Sure."
"Have you noticed anything... well, weird since your visit to the Realm?"
Anakin raised an eyebrow. "Uh... no?"
She gave a little shrug. "Well, I guess you wouldn't notice unless it was something huge. But like, lately, I feel like I've been able to sense a bit more than normal. I think it's part of the reason why I've got this tug to go to Tatooine. There's... there's something there, Ani. I swear. And it's important."
"Okay..." Anakin replied, choosing not to debate the fact that she might be delusional. "But I haven't noticed anything different."
"You harnessed the energy of a nuclear reactor."
He smirked. "One-time thing."
"Okay, maybe. But how about some smaller, not-one-time things?"
"Like what?"
"Like how you cloaked us from Sabe and Vader—as much as I'd like to deny it, there's no way I could've kept myself hidden alone for that long. And the way you said you beat Vader? He should've killed you when he had you pinned, yet you somehow managed to evade him. Plus, you told me you sensed from rooms away what Ryoo and Pooja were talking about just by concentrating on them. You helped me mend my ribs completely, when neither of us have ever had enough focus for Force-Healing—."
"Okay, okay, I get the point. But what are you getting at, Caish?"
She frowned thoughtfully and chewed her lip for a second. "I don't know," she said finally. "I was kinda hoping you'd have a theory."
Anakin snorted. "Caish, you know I don't theorize."
She smirked and shrugged. "I was hoping for a one-time thing."
"But maybe," she added after a moment. "Maybe we should mention it to the Council at some point. See if there are any Jedi teachings about the Realm."
"I don't know, Caish..." her brother replied. "This isn't really something I want the whole Council in on."
"So we just ask Obi-Wan." When Anakin didn't reply, his sister pushed a little further, "It's just that... I feel like this is important. Everything that's been happening is important: all the attacks we've had—on the way to Coruscant, in the Lower Levels, the other day—it's all gearing up to something. Like Dorme said, that bill's only the first of many; each attack is only one of a bigger plan."
Anakin stopped tinkering for a moment, flipping a screwdriver in his gloved hand as he weighed his sister's words. "You think Sidious is planning for something."
"He wants us dead and he wants you on his side. He's not gonna give up just because Vader failed. And... don't flip, but... I still think we should talk to the Council as a whole."
"Caisha—."
"Look, if Sidious is gearing up to something big, it'll concern them too, right? Besides, maybe we could talk privately with Obi-wan about... well, whatever's going on with us."
After a moment, Anakin gave a grudging nod. "Fine. We'll contact them as soon as we're settled somewhere."
The siblings relapsed into silence—this one even shorter than the last. Seconds later, Padme came in the cockpit. "Hey," Anakin sent his wife a little smile. "Are the twins asleep?"
Even as he asked and she replied, Anakin focused, testing Acacia's theory, and he could feel them, a few rooms away at the back of the ship, quiet, happy, as if they were right there in his—
"No, 3PO's watching them," Padme said with a quiet sigh. "He was desperate to do something; he's so upset about 'failing us' as he says."
"Failing us?"
"He was powered down while we were captured. Feels like he should've protected us somehow."
"Funny to be saying this about a droid," Acacia muttered dryly, "but maybe someone should talk to him."
Anakin chuckled but with little humor. "Yeah, probably. Otherwise, we'll never hear the end of it."
"Before that, though," Padme interrupted, "I actually wanted to talk with you both. I've been thinking—"
"Oh dear."
Padme gave a quick laugh. "Quiet, Ani. As I was saying... I've been thinking, how much do the Sith know? How much could... could Darred and Sabe have told Vader?"
Anakin shook his head, shoving a screwdriver into one of R2's panels. "Everything, I'd guess."
"But if they told them everything, all there was to know, couldn't they have caught us weeks ago?"
Anakin nodded slowly, understanding her train of thought, at the same time as Acacia caught on. "Yeah, probably. So why didn't they"
Padme shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they only started spying a few months ago. Maybe they didn't tell them everything. Maybe Vader wanted to lure us into that trap, specifically." Padme sighed and shook her head. "Maybe we'll never really know."
They fell into silence again, but as far as those answers went, Anakin wasn't sure he cared. All he knew was he was sick of feeling useless, sick of screwing up, sick of failing. So maybe they'd never know the full truth, maybe they were running away to Tatooine to regroup. But Sidious had better believe he'd be coming back.
And when he did, it'd be with his lightsaber on and swinging for that son of a sarlacc's throat
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Author's Note: I wrote a Hunger Games fanfiction with a friend of mine involving characters from our original manuscript in the Hunger Games. I don't think I can put a link in the chapter itself, but if you go to my profile, the story should be there. Hope you guys check that one out too and enjoy it! :D